Convicted editor under pressure in jail N 1

Baku/10.01.22/Turan:  Polad Aslanov, the founder and editor of the  xeberman.com site, has been on a hunger strike for the fifth day in the medical center of the  janil N1,  reported his wife Gulmira Aslanova.

According to her, on Monday Polad  has a day of telephone conversations with his family, but  he  was  not  allowed to contact his family.

Through unofficial channels from the jail, she learned that cigarettes and bottled water were also taken away from her husband. All this is done to force people to give up their hunger strike.

In connection with the violation of her husband's rights and pressure on him, Aslanova turned to the Ombudsman's office and the leadership of the Penitentiary Service.

“The Penitentiary Service promised that by the end of the day Polad would be given the opportunity to call, but this was not done. I am very worried about him,” Aslanova said.

She recalled that Polad started a hunger strike, protests against the delay in the consideration of his appeal by the Supreme Court. Prior to that, the administration of the colony tried to force him to withdraw his complaints. According to his wife, drunk prisoners were put in to Polad, who started a conflict with him. For a believer, the presence of drunk and aggressive inmates is actually torture. The penitentiary service did not comment on reports of pressure on Polad Aslanov in jail N1.

* The editor of the website xeberman.com Polad Aslanov was sentenced on November 16, 2019 to 16 years in prison on charges of treason in favor of Iran. Reporters Without Borders and other human rights organizations called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release Polad Aslanov. — 06B-